About Me

When not nosing, tasting, drinking and reading about malt whisky, I own one of Israel's premiere boutique coaching practices, specializing in small businesses and executive teams.
Trained in the law, I was an international law attorney and took part in Israel's peace negotiations with the Palestinians, as well as representing my country at the UN for parts of the negotiations on the implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Later I was appointed to the military bench.
My favorite thing, other than whisky, is teaching.
You can contact me through the social media buttons above or by email: michael(at)maltandoak.com, replacing the (at) with an @.

Statement of Integrity and Guidelines

Malt and Oak is an independent whisky blog, offering my own views, opinions and news from the world of malt whisky.
These are my guidelines:

1. All whisky reviews published are of whiskies I have personally tasted and noted. Guest bloggers only write about their own personal tastings.

2. With the exception of official whisky samples, I accept no consideration whatsoever from any distillery, bottler, distributor, drink company or store for my opinions.

3. I maintain strict impartiality and objectivity in tasting all whiskies, not least when tasting official samples. Any review of official whisky samples sent to me will be so noted in the post.

4. I will accept invitations to tastings, events and official visits, and full disclosure will be made on any tasting notes and articles resulting from these events or visits.

5. Any sample received over 30 ml in volume is shared with fellow whisky bloggers. In any event, no sample larger than 100 ml will be accepted.

6. No advertisements promoting specific brands will be accepted.

7. I will answer any inquiry by my readers as quickly and as fully as possible.

8. Should I give a link purchase the reviewed whisky, it will be given free of any commercial interest. The link given will always point to cheapest selling price I found on the web. No commission is paid, nor any other consideration given, for such link.

9. As of July 2017, I serve as Douglas Laing’s Israel brand ambassasdor. As such, I will obviously not be posting reviews of Douglas Laing products.

The Old and the New: Glenmorangie’s Sauternes Finishes – 15 Year vs. The Nectar D’or

Sauternes casks are just about as expensive as casks get. Thus, whisky maturing in Sauternes casks is both relatively rare (compared to bourbon, sherry or other wine finishes) and fairly expensive. Full maturation in Sauternes casks is almost unheard of, with only a few examples around (the Ballechin #8 Sauternes Cask comes to mind), and of the whiskys finished in Sauternes casks, perhaps none are as widely available as the Glenmorangie Nectar D’or.

Glenmorangie is one of two pretenders to the crown of wood finishes, battling The Balvenie for the title of this innovation. Until one (or more likely, both distilleries) pioneered transferring whisky aging in a regular cask (i.e. an inexpensive bourbon cask) into a highly desired (and costly) cask, whisky spent its entire maturation – still to bottle – in the same cask. Proving the concept, the desired finish could be achieved in a fraction of the time it took to mature whisky, and by using 1st, 2nd and 3rd fill finishing casks wisely, could get more mileage out of each cask.

Château d’Yquem – Photo Credit: LVMH News – www.lvmh.com

One of the most famous Sauternes vineyards in Bordeaux – Château d’Yquem – is owned by LVMH, the same company that owns Glenmorangie, so supply of these high quuality barriques to Glenmorangie is, most likely, guaranteed. I will mention, though, that nowhere is it stated that Glenmorangie actually uses the Château d’Yquem barriques, and this is just my own assumption.

In a Sauternes themed meeting of the Tel-Aviv Malt Mongers Club, held amid falling rocket and the shock over Brazil’s complete falling apart in the World Cup, we had two pairs of old vs. new – two Tullibardine Sauternes finishes whiskys and the two Glenmorangies.

But before the Nectar D’or, there was the Glenmorangie 15 Year Old Sauternes Wood Finish. The difference? The Nectar D’or is aged 10 years in ex-bourbon casks, then two additional years in the Sauternes barriques, whereas the 15 spent the same decade in the American oak casks, then five full years in the Sauternes wood.

So how are they? Let’s try a new format for comparisons (drumroll):

Photo Credit: thewhiskyvault.com

Glenmorangie 15 Year Old Sauternes Wood Finish (46% ABV, NCF, NC)

Glenmorangie Nectar d’Or (46% ABV, NCF, NC)

Nectar d’OrPhoto Credit: www.scotchnsoda.me

Deep Amber

Color

Deep gold

Strong sweet desert wine, oak, musk, honey, very faint lactic scent

Nose

Some lacticity, orange, cookie batter, spices and sweet wine with a whiff of butter.

Full bodied, a lot of oak, lacticity, acetone, concentrated sweetened milk and pepper.

Palate

Spice (pepper and clove) full bodied, sweet grapes, citrus peels with some of the fresh fruit, but not too much of it.

Pleasant but very quick, leaving just a little bit of spice behind

Finish

Spice, dry wine on sides of cheeks. Long and warming.

This expression has two flaws: the oak is too pronounced and the finish is too quick. While the lacticity in Bruichladdich is overpowering for me, here it was actually pleasant, but overall – the 12 year Nectar d’Or is actually better.

Conclusion

This expression is fruitier and much less oaky than the 15. The lacticity here goes more in the direction of butter, rather than curd.Of the two, this expression is the better drink, and being readily available – you can just get one to enjoy.

Did you like the new comparison format, or do you prefer reading them one after the other?
Let me know in the comments.

I agree about the complexity, Shai.
I feel the oak detracted from the final result, and the finish was too short for me. Both drams are beautiful, I just ended up liking the Nectar d’Or just a wee bit more 🙂
BTW, so did Mr. Barr…